AT LEAST 10,000 young children have been dragged from their families and needlessly adopted due to a flawed target at the heart of Government, it was claimed last night.
Vulnerable children were handed over in their thousands under a New Labour crusade driven by artificial adoption targets.
A top Oxford academic yesterday branded the policy as Tony Blair’s worst mistake.
The expert in social work who did not want to be named said: “Forget the Iraq War. “Blair’s adoption target was the reason I left the Labour party.” Last night backing came from MP John Hemming, who said the policy led to the unnecessary adoption of 1,000 children every year.
He claims the target set 11 years ago was flawed from the outset because it contained a fundamental error of maths and he has called for a full Parliamentary inquiry to prevent further damage.
FULL STORY:-http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/259355/10-000-children-ripped-from-their-families

The media’s new right to attend family court proceedings should only be overturned in the most exceptional circumstances, the President of the Family Division has been told.

When applications were being made to exclude the media from such hearings, the media also had a right to be properly informed of the application and the reasons behind it, said Gavin Millar QC, representing a group of media organisations.

His comments came at a hearing yesterday at which the media were opposing an application they should be excluded from hearings in a case involving a celebrity, a child and the child’s mother.

The hearing was in private, although journalists were allowed to attend.

Richard Spearman QC, for the celebrity, had argued that as a general rule in cases involving celebrities and their children, the requirement to protect their privacy would require that journalists should be excluded from the hearings.

He also argued that protection of celebrities and children’s privacy meant that when applications were made for journalists to be excluded from all or parts of hearings, the media should not be told the reasons on which such applications were based.

The case is the first in which the Family Division has had to consider the operation of the new system of openness in the family court and the rule allowing the exclusion of journalists from all or parts of hearings in certain circumstances.

It is believed that Sir Mark Potter, President of the Family Division, intends to use the case to set out guidance for the courts on the approach to be taken.The new rules allowing the media into family proceedings hearings provide that journalists may be excluded from all or part of a hearing if this is necessary in the interests of any child concerned in or connected with the proceedings, or for the safety or protection of a party or witness or person connected with such a person, or for the orderly conduct of proceedings, or if justice would otherwise be impeded or prejudiced.

When parents separate, grandparents can find themselves cut off from grandchildren with no rights. The law should change

Stage lights sway beside the tall trees in Regents Park theatre on Saturday night, casting a golden glow on Beatrice and her reluctant wooer, Benedick. It was shivering cold, but our hearts were warm, first because of the play, but also because I was there in the company of my grandson. Much Ado had been a set text at school so he got the plot and understood the rude jokes as much as I did. The following morning we were off again, just the two of us, grandma and grandson, heading for the British Library and its exhibition of Henry VIII. Yes, my grandson is already in his teens and enjoys these one-to-one weekends almost as much as I do.

Jimmy and Margaret Deuchars in Glasgow had a fine time with their granddaughters at half-term, too. The two teenagers stayed over in their home and went on outings to Loch Lomond and such, just the sort of treats grandparents enjoy sharing. But in Jimmy and Margarets case it hasnt always been that easy.

The Deuchars lost their daughter to breast cancer only weeks after her second baby was born. Her husband soon married again and moved away to Liverpool. His new family took precedence in his life and the grandparents found contact hard. Their requests to keep in touch came to nothing. They realised that they had lost more than their daughter. But they werent willing to accept the situation, and went to court. The laws of this country do not acknowledge any legal relationship between grandparents and grandchildren. However, after a somewhat heated negotiation, the families came to an agreement. In the years that followed they would meet their granddaughters once a month at Carlisle Castle or the Tesco near by. It wasnt much of a family life, but it would have to do. However, they didnt stop there.

When I was first a grandparent, about 17 years ago, grandparents didnt have much of a profile. They were simply bundled in with the general family background and not expected to have much of a role. All that has changed, and people such as Miriam Stoppard are writing delicious books about the joys and rewards, but also about the skills and pitfalls of what I suppose must be called grand parenting. Being a grandparent, it seems to me, can be gloriously free of rule books and restrictions. There is only one qualification parentage and after that you make it up as you go along.

West Sussex County Council is starting to ‘close the gap’ on a shortage of social workers in children’s services, members were told.

Cllr James Walsh asked how many of the vacancies required to be filled to meet the demands of the children’s delivery programme had been filled since the council last met.

Leader Cllr Henry Smith said he did not have an exact figure to date, but he could say that Pfund500,000 of extra investment provided earlier this year had resulted in more children’s social workers being recruited.

“We are starting to close the gap on the number of social worker vacancies for children’s services, and for adults’ services as well,” he added.

This was a key priority for the county council, but it was very

difficult to get people to enter social care at the moment hardly

surprising given the extreme adverse publicity the profession had faced in the last year or so.

The situation was particularly challenging in West Sussex, which was competing with authorities in Greater London for staff.

“This is something we have an absolute commitment to resolve,” he told the council.

Cllr Smith was questioned by Cllr Irene Richards about why a target set under a ‘local area agreement’ involving the county council, police, health service and other local authorities for reducing fatal and serious road accidents had not been met, and whether any additional measures were proposed to achieve this.

THE CIVIL Partnership Bill giving statutory rights to gay and lesbian couples will be enacted and operational by the end of the year, the Government said yesterday.

The Bill was published yesterday by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.

It will allow same-sex couples to register their civil partnership and allow them to enjoy the same statutory protection as married couples across a wide range of areas. However, it stops short of allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.

The rights and obligations include the protection of a shared home, pension rights, the right to succession and equality with married couples of treatment under the tax and social welfare codes.

According to the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, thousands of couples in Ireland will be in a position to register their relationship from early next year.

The second major feature of the Bill is a new redress scheme for unmarried cohabiting opposite-sex couples, and for same-sex couples who have not registered.

The scheme will afford protection to a financially dependent person when a long-term relationship comes to an end. The cohabitation scheme covers a number of scenarios, including bereavement and the break-up of a relationship.

Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley welcomed the Bill, calling it a major breakthrough for gay and lesbian couples in Irish society. He said it had involved many meetings with Mr Ahern and his officials, and had taken a lot of time because of its complex nature.I believe its the start of a process and today is a major step forward in terms of equality.

Mr Gormley said the party still favoured marriage rights for gay and lesbian people. He said any move in that direction was contingent on the outcome of the case that has been taken by Ann Louise Gilligan and Katherine Zappone to have their Canadian marriage recognised in Ireland.